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Posts Tagged ‘#lentowrimo’

Strange Days, Strange Place

Posted in Church, tagged , , , , , , on 8 April, 2020| 2 Comments »

I’ve seen a few people online commenting that this strange season is subjecting us all to culture shock. So much has changed for everyone – we are all living very different lives to what has been normal for us. Things are so changed for us all. And it reminded me of a post I wrote about moving here to the parish – and some things the Vicar and I learnt when we moved to Kuala Lumpur many years ago.

twintowers

The culture shock I’ve experienced before – moving to different countries and to different cities – has taken much longer to kick in. But I think that being in the same place and yet nothing being the same has compressed the experience. A couple of weeks into lockdown and it no longer feels like a slightly odd holiday. The boys are now fed up of not going to school. And the steep tech learning curve is exhausting, and trying to find new ways of connecting with people isn’t a fun alternative any more, but frustrating and awkward.

So, as in my original reflection on culture shock, I’m reminded that this world is not my home; here I’m a ‘foreigner and exile’ (1 Peter 2:11). Suffering culture shock should make me look to my heavenly home, and focus on the place I really belong. This week we remember those days when the Lord Jesus gave himself for us. He gave up his true home to tread the path to the cross – and on to glory. And so I can stumble along in this strange new world, remembering that whether things are strange or even just ‘normal’ I’m here in exile. My home is now with Christ, because of the cross and the glory he won there for his people.

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Holy Week, Hobbling Along

Posted in Church, tagged , , , , , , , , , on 7 April, 2020| 2 Comments »

I didn’t manage to finish a blog last night – the first #lentowrimo post I’ve missed. My brain just wasn’t functioning – the third week of lockdown has felt exhausting and overwhelming. We were meant to be on holiday this week – at Word Alive with thousands of other believers. But here we are, still in the Vicarage and not in glamorous Prestatyn, hearing helpful Bible talks and meeting up with dear friends.

We’re here serving the parish online and over the phone, helping at the foodbank and wrangling Zoom with people who struggle with technology. We’re here following the way of Christ. We’re here, looking to our Lord, who trod the way of the cross, exhausted and overwhelmed. So this Holy Week, I’m hobbling along, aware of my fragility, like the daisies which have bloomed in the Secret Field this week. But the blessing of Holy Week is that it goes through the cross to the resurrection. The perishable becomes imperishable. The grass withers and the flowers fall but the Word of the Lord endures forever.

[Text on yellow disc over picture of white/yellow daisies on green grass] For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For, ‘All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures for ever.’

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Tender Love, Great Humility, Patience

Posted in Church, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on 4 April, 2020| Leave a Comment »

We are approaching a strange and hard Easter. A strange and hard Holy Week. This collect from the Book of Common Prayer is preparing me for that – reminding me of the Father’s tender love, helping me to recall the great humility of the Lord Jesus and challenging me to be patient. These are what I need to meditate on this week. I need to meditate with gratitude on love, humility and patience.

[Black text on yellow starburst, photo of blackthorn blossom behind] ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who, of thy tender love towards mankind, hast sent thy Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ, to take upon him our flesh, and to suffer death upon the cross, that all mankind should follow the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant, that we may both follow the example of his patience, and also be made partakers of his resurrection; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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New Things in a Small World

Posted in Church, tagged , , , , , , , , on 3 April, 2020| Leave a Comment »

Everyone’s worlds have shrunk in the last few weeks as we try to stay home as much as possible. But even in this small world we are finding new things. And enjoying old things in new ways. Finding new rhythms to life.

The arrival of Spring helps, I guess, seeing changes in the buds each day down at the park in our new rhythm of afternoon Vicarage Hound frisbee sessions in the Secret Field. There is new growth to spot each day on the ash buds and the brambles are sprouting fresh leaves.

And in a small world, new things give more pleasure than they used to – the delivery of an online shop with new food to eat, the newly tidy back yard, a new opportunity to have a (properly socially distanced, of course) word in passing with neighbours or other dog walkers, the impending arrival of the Queen back from her student accommodation tomorrow – we couldn’t go before as we were in self isolation. So the Vicarage is going to be rather fuller and our new rhythms (and diet, with a Vegan in the house) will be changing again.

And, of course, when I think about new things, I remember that God’s mercy is new every morning, even in our small world here in the Vicarage. The best new thing.

[Text on picture of blue sky, trees, green grass, dog] The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

 

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Online Cake, Remote Noise

Posted in Church, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 2 April, 2020| Leave a Comment »

Today we had our second meeting of Cake and Chat over Zoom, the app of the moment. No cake is provided, although a few of us made breakfast as we chatted. It’s still a great joy to see one another and catch up with everyone’s locked down weeks. Meeting remotely loses much – it’s not true Cake and Chat when we are physically apart. We miss the break out conversations and more in depth chats.

Being together bodily makes it a true meeting, shared cake eaten together makes it a true meeting. The physicality of being in the same building makes our meeting a true meeting. So this Zoom Cake and Chat will do for now. But it won’t do properly. And that’s a little like Holy Communion not being possible when a church is unable to meet. We look forward to the time when we can truly taste and see that the Lord is good, when we are back together for Cake and Chat and for our communion services.

Loaf cake & biscuits just out of the oven

Our usual Thursday morning feast

Cake online is not truly cake. But noise outside is real noise. And tonight we joined neighbours outside in the 8pm #ClapforCarers #ClapforKeyWorkers. The Joker decided to up the noise quotient by bringing out my frying pan and a wooden spoon, and I’m sure that some of our neighbours only remembered because of the enthusiastic vigour that he used. There was some enthusiasm on the street for more pans and spoons next week.

Perhaps the Joker will bring his trombone out, following the example of my excellent nephews who live out in the countryside. They made sure that their #ClapforCarers was heard by playing their bagpipes.

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Numbering

Posted in Church, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on 1 April, 2020| 1 Comment »

Today we went back down to the Secret Field with the boys and the Vicarage Hound, the tennis ball and the floppy frisbee ring. And I vowed to be a little less languid today, so I walked around the field in a rather more energetic fashion than I did yesterday.

Yesterday when we returned I checked out the pedometer app on my phone. And from a frankly embarrassing daily average, I had raised my game significantly by taking just a couple of laps. So today I increased my field laps and upped my step count. A better number. And now, of course, I will have to do another extra lap on tomorrow’s Secret Field trip so I can count more. Who knows how many daily steps I’ll be doing be doing by the end of the lockdown? I’m not sure I’ll match Martin Lewis, but perhaps I’ll get a taste for increasing pedometer scores.

There are so many numbers about at the moment – graphs and totals are filling my timelines, some people are counting days since the lockdown and calculating days to go until some sort of loosening of restrictions. Numbering something else feels like a good distraction: 4426 yesterday, 5062 today.

Right numbering is always important, but perhaps even more so in this season. I’m praying that I’ll learn how to number my strange days right and gain a heart of wisdom.

[Text over photo of cut tree trunk] So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.

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Exercised

Posted in Church, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on 31 March, 2020| Leave a Comment »

The boys have been somewhat resistant to exercise that isn’t the gym, taekwando, bouldering or school sports. But today we insisted they venture outside with us and the Vicarage Hound. They emerged, blinking, into the afternoon and we all went down to the secret field, hidden just at the top of the park, near to the gate where we come in. In deference to the Engineer’s desire to not actually really walk anywhere we took a tennis ball and the favourite floppy ring frisbee and installed ourselves in the field.

The Vicarage Hound is very keen on the frisbee, which he can catch in the air, and loves to shake vigorously to ensure its complete surrender. The Vicar and the boys threw the frisbee around and the Vicarage Hound ran between them, at full racing tilt, occasionally successfully grasping the prey and then looping around the field to remind us all that he is by far and away the fastest runner in the family.

I am a little embarrassed to report that I, meanwhile, walked gently round the outside of the field, looking at Spring flowers and tree buds. Although I was taking my exercise more gently, I did have to bellow instructions when the Vicarage Hound took an impressive tumble on an unsuccessful mission to take the frisbee in the air. In his usual fashion when sustaining a minor injury, he held his paw up and whimpered pathetically. No amount of patting on the back was enough to comfort him. The boys had not realised that a sore foot requires attention. You have to look at it properly like a medic called out to a footballer clutching a hamstring. Then you have to stroke the afflicted leg tenderly before the hound will even attempt putting it back on the ground. This is then followed by a limping walk for ten paces or so until, to everyone’s relief, normal service is resumed.

After all the dashing about, and the pseudo injury, the Vicarage Hound took a well earned rest on the grass whilst the rest of us continued with our vigorous and not so vigorous exercise. He has barely moved all evening, and the boys have been much jollier, so I think we were successful in our government mandated exercise: happy teens and dog make for a far better lockdown.

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Wrangling with Week Two

Posted in Church, tagged , , , , , on 30 March, 2020| 1 Comment »

Into the second week of lockdown and, in common with the rest of the country I’m sure, things are somewhat unravelling here in the Vicarage.

The Engineer has had to deal with double woes today, not even including having to do homeschool. Since there are no leaving things on the bus woes at the moment, we have had to find them somewhere else. And so it proved. Last night he’d left his headphones on his computer screen and caught his feet in the wire, pulling the screen over onto its face. When he came down this morning he found that the screen was completely borked. There’s a new one on its way, but until then there will be some less pleasing gaming, which is important when you’re 15.

After recovering from that shock, he took solace in playing the piano, only to find that the D and E flat keys above middle C were sticking together. I’ll not tell you how the Vicar dealt with the sticking keys, in case you know anything about pianos ought to be mended, but now the D doesn’t play at all but at least it doesn’t play the wrong note. We can live with that until the piano tuner is allowed out again.

Anyway, after that start, I asked the Vicarage Hound what he thought about it all. And he gave a very considered opinion. Since I last blogged WordPress has disabled videos, so I’m afraid you’ll have to click through, but I think what he has to say is worth hearing.

Blond lurcher looking thoughtful

The Vicarage Hound being thoughtful

 

 

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Channelling Creativity

Posted in Church, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on 28 March, 2020| Leave a Comment »

I thought I’d tell you something new I learnt about recently. I was introduced to Canva, which is a free site for creating publicity of all sorts – flyers, Facebook posts, animations – all sorts. I’ve used it for a couple of flyers before, and have uploaded them to our church Facebook page. But this evening I went for it and created a bunch of posts for our notices tomorrow morning. Nothing like a proper deadline to generate creativity. Here’s a sample:

So pleasing, eh? It’s so much easier when someone else has chosen the fonts! And made a layout too. I’m not on commission, honest, but it’s definitely worth checking out. Maybe a project for next week, now all the clergy have got live streaming sussed *laughing hysterically emoji*?

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Day Off Joys

Posted in Church, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on 27 March, 2020| 1 Comment »

It’s strange in this time of weirdness that the Vicar is still working and is keeping the rhythm of having a day off. But today was the Day Off and so we did things a little differently. There was gardening and fridge cleaning, and the boys started addressing a Google Keep list of chores that the Vicar has drawn up to save us all from killing each other going nuts.

And it turns out that a sunny afternoon in the garden is a thing of beauty and joy. And even better is standing in the sunshine with a cup of tea, talking over the wall at the bottom of the garden to our dear friend Dreamer, as she sat in her front bedroom window. And following that with throwing a frisbee around the garden to entertain a loopy Vicarage Hound.

Me and the Vicar peeking over our six foot red brick wall

Another joy today was also courtesy of Dreamer, who took an upholstery course during her sabbatical last year. She took pity on us a few weeks ago and offered to repair our disgraceful piano stool, which has totally lacked any sort of padding or cover for far too long. And today she delivered it to the front door and the Vicar reattached it. We are very pleased with it.

 

And the newly covered stool enticed the Engineer to continue playing and practising the ragtime he has discovered over the last few months. And then the Vicar recorded him so you can enjoy it too.

 

I was also going to mention the joy of discovering a short video on Twitter with instructions about how to cut your fringe. Seeing without swiping my hair back is a delight. What a great Day Off. Simple joys.

Eyes with fairly amateur fringe above

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